Bone plates can be engaged to adjacent bony portions of a bone or of a bony segment to stabilize the bony portions. Anchors or fasteners, such as bone screws, can be used to engage bone plates to the bony portions. In spinal surgical procedures, it can be desirable to provide stress on an interbody implant positioned between vertebrae to promote bone growth and fusion of adjacent vertebrae. Plates that rigidly maintain the separation distance between vertebrae can shield bone graft from stress and can result in less than optimal bone growth and fusion of the vertebrae.
There remains a need for devices and methods that can be employed efficiently and effectively for stabilizing one or more levels of a spinal column while preventing stress shielding of bone graft positioned to fuse the one or more levels.